Recognition
by Rebanakin
Summary: Fred is Natalie's imaginary friend, and is having great fun setting up pranks to get her Nanny, the Colossus, to quit. As with all imaginary friends, he loses all memory of his old Friend when moving on to a new one - he has no memory of Elizabeth or her mother Polly. He wouldn't even remember if he saw them - well, he shouldn't... Sequel to DDF; picks up at the end of the movie.
1. Chapter 1

**Recognition**

"High-five, Bogeybrain!" I cheered, dancing with Natalie in the living room of the Bunce house. The five-year-old girl in front of me wore a pair of dungarees and a white long-sleeved t-shirt, and a huge mischievous grin across her warrior-style mud-streaked little face.

She slapped my hand before brushing her blonde block fringe (A/N: fringe=bangs in US) out of her eyes and continuing the celebratory dance. We were dancing because Natalie and I had just pulled off our best prank yet – one that would definitely get rid of the Colossus, aka Natalie's nanny. How did we do it? Let me explain…

"_Bogeybrain! Oi, Bogeybrain! Wake up!" I shook the girl and she woke up with a start. Luckily though, before she attacked me she realised it was me._

"_Freeeeeed! You scared me!"_

"_Well, you don't have time to be scared. Quick, get dressed: we have a plan to start."_

"_A plan?" Her blue eyes gleamed in excitement. "What kind of plan?"_

"_One that'll get rid of the smelly old Colossus for good." Natalie leaped out the bed and yanked some clothes on, while I went to gather our equipment._

_Reaching for a coil of rope off a shelf in the garage, I heard a voice behind me._

"_Now what do we do?" whispered Natalie. I handed her the rope, a large glass bowl and a red and yellow plastic tricycle._

"_Take these outside and put them by the tree, then meet me by the back gate with the dome, soldier. Be careful – that dome is very dangerous. We don't want anyone getting hurt."_

_Natalie dropped the equipment, slapped her legs together (just managing to avoid falling over), put a hand to her forehead in a salute and barked, "Sir, yes sir!" before gathering everything up again and scampering outside. I headed to the back gate and awaited her arrival._

_A few minutes later, the five-year-old girl trotted over to me, panting and clutching the bowl. "What next, Fred?" she grinned._

"_Gather as much sticky mud as you can."_

"_But, the ground is dry. There's nowhere to get it from!"_

"_Ah, do not fear, soldier. I have a magical snake which can help you with that. Don't let it bite you, though – only the strongest magician can cure a magic snake bite." I unravelled the hosepipe behind me and sprayed a small section of the ground in front of us, to prove it worked._

"_Yes, sir!" The little soldier snatched the magic snake and used its venom to dissolve the ground, then gathered the mud into the dome bomb as instructed. "And now what?"_

_I took back the hosepipe and threw it on the floor, not bothering to turn it off. "We need to take the weapon into the bathroom with us – it's face-painting time!" Natalie cheered as we casually strolled off with the bowl of mud, ready to smear all over her pale little face._

"_What sort of face-painting is that, Bogeybrain?" I gagged in disgust, pointing at the revolting shape she had smeared on her cheek._

"_It's– it's a flower! Don't you like it?" She looked ready to burst into tears._

"_Oh, no! Don't even think about crying! Bogeybrain, when was the last time you touched something pink?"_

"_Umm… this morning," she sniffled._

"_I have very bad news for you. I am afraid you may have caught girlie-itis. It's a good job you're wearing blue, otherwise it may have been incurable."_

_Natalie's face suddenly became serious. "How do we get rid of it, Fred?"_

_I grinned at her. "Luckily, that's easy. You need to be a boy!"_

"_But I'm a girl!"_

"_No, not ACTUALLY be a boy, silly! If you pretend to do it for long enough, you will trick that Bogeybrain of yours into thinking you are a boy, and you will be cured!"_

"_How do I do that?"_

"_First, you need to stop crying. Crying is for girls."_

"_Check!" Natalie beamed happily._

"_Next, wash that… that _flower_ off your cheek. Flowers are for girls."_

_Natalie shoved her whole head into the water-filled basin and scrubbed at her cheek ferociously with her hand. "Check!"_

"_Now, dip two fingers into the toxic waste."_

_She pushed them deep in, making a squelching sound. She released a giggle._

"_Make two lines along your cheeks, your forehead and your chin, and make one down your nose."_

_The muddy fingers were dragged all over her face "Check!"_

"_You look like a boy now! You're a warrior wearing blue."_

"_Yay!" Natalie yelled. I grabbed her hand and started running out the bathroom._

"_Quickly – we need to go and set the Colossus trap."_

"_Help me tie the rope to the tricycle, Bogeybrain." Natalie placed her hands over mine and helped me tighten the knot. I handed her the tricycle, then ran around the tree with the looped end of the rope a few times. Then I created a simple snare; Natalie didn't even try to help – it was far too advanced for poor little Bogeybrain._

"_How does it work, Fred?"_

"_Well," I began, "The tricycle holds the rope in place and stops it from coming undone, and the loop tightens around the Colossus's foot when she steps in it."_

"_Awesome!" she smiled._

"_It's up to you to do the last part of the plan. This bit's very important: I need you to throw the bomb at the Colossus when she comes downstairs, then start singing 'Na, na na-na na!' as loud as you can. Can you do that for me, Bogeybrain?"_

"_You bet I can!"_

I heard a splat from out in the hallway, then loud chanting and the pattering and stomping of feet: pattering as Natalie ran into the living room where I was waiting, and stomping as the Colossus stormed out of the house in outrage.

"Fred! She's going, she's going! Come and watch; quick, Fred!" ordered Natalie. "Hurry up; you're going to miss it! She looks funny when she's angry, doesn't she?" she giggled.

"Alright, Bossy Boots, I'm coming," I sighed. In one clumsy roly-poly, I was over Natalie who stood gazing out the window into the front garden, where a mud-caked Colossus was marching up the path towards Mickey ('Daddy') and a woman with choppy dark hair; the Colossus was having a great time proclaiming that she had 'had enough', and that 'she was quitting!'.

Glaring at me, Natalie stuck her bottom lip out and stamped in protest. "Hey! I'm not bossy!"

"Ooh, Megabeast face. Scary," I teased her. Giggles escaped her mouth, despite her best efforts to stay angry. _Megabeast,_ I frowned, _that sounds familiar._ Where had I heard that name before?

"Fred? What's wrong?" Snapping out of my trance, I flashed my most gorgeous smile at Natalie (which looked something like a cross between a blue whale and a carnivorous rabbit).

"I don't know, what _is _wrong, Bogeybrain?" She stifled another giggle and tried to roll her eyes, but ended up flicking them from wall to ceiling to other wall.

"Look! She's about to set off our trap!" We both watched intently as the Colossus put her foot right into the loop, and she was yanked high up into the air and left dangling from the tree by her ankle.

Natalie squealed with joy, jumping up and down and clapping her chubby little hands together.

"Fred! It worked, it worked! We did it, Drop Dead Fred!" She gave me another high-five and turned back to watch the Colossus squirming in a vain attempt to escape the trap we had set.

The Colossus's shrieks floated through the slightly open window. "This is IT! I have had e-NOUGH! I QUIT, Mr Bunce! I QUIT!" Tears of frustration started gathering in the corners of her eyes. "If I so much as SEE that DEVIL-spawn again, I'm going to THROTT–"

"NATALIE! GET HERE NOW!" Mickey yelled. Natalie hung her head.

"Fred, do I have to go out there?" she whined, a strand of her long blonde hair now stuck to her mud-streaked rosy cheeks.

"Don't worry, I'll be right behind you," I winked with a smile. Natalie dragged her feet into the hallway and out the front door, a sullen look on her face.

"Aww, cheer up, Bogeybrain. We just punished the Colossus!" She looked up at me and gave me a small smile, then skipped the rest of the way down the path.

"Yes, Daddy?" Natalie smiled innocently. "What is it?" I climbed up the tree to get a better view of things – this was going to get exciting.

Upon spotting Natalie, the Colossus writhed and reached out to grab the little Bunce. "Why, you LITTLE–"

"That's enough thank you," Mickey interrupted. "I can handle it from here."

"But–"

"I said I can handle it, thank you. Natalie, did you do this to Nanny?"

"No Daddy, I didn't."

"Who else could it have been then? It wasn't me. It wasn't you. Are you sure you didn't do this?"

"I pinkie promise!" Natalie wrapped her little finger around her dad's. "Cross my heart, hope to die, stick a needle in my eye," she told him solemnly.

"Did you have anything to do with this, then?"

Natalie's innocent-little-girl façade faltered at this: she dropped her gaze to the floor and started fiddling with her dungarees. "I–" she started, but quickly changed her mind.

"Natalie…" Mickey warned.

"Drop Dead Fred did it!" she blurted. The dark-haired woman started and turned to Natalie, as if she was familiar with my name. But how could she be? No-one could see me except Natalie!

"What happened to being a team?" I whispered, pretending to be hurt.

She turned her head towards me slightly and mouthed "Sorry!" in my direction.

"Drop Dead Fred?" Mickey asked Natalie, stunned. He exchanged a glance with the woman, a peculiar expression on his face.

"Yes, he's my friend. Don't you see him, Daddy? He's sitting in the tree!" Her finger pointed right at me and the two grown-ups followed her arm to look at me. I stood up, leaned backwards and took the biggest bow in the history of bows, then tipped my imaginary hat. (What? There's no harm in being polite, even if the recipients – now I feel BO-RING – can't see me!)

Then I saw her face.

I stopped. My mouth dropped right the way down to the floor, 10 feet below me. One last look confirmed it: the woman was beautiful. And, somehow, I knew her.

And she knew me.


	2. Chapter 2

Recap:

Then I saw her face.

I stopped. My mouth dropped right the way down to the floor, 10 feet below me. One last look confirmed it: the woman was beautiful. And, somehow, I knew her.

And she knew me.

The woman was looking up the tree, right at me. She was actually looking _at_ me. Not through me; not above or below me.

Mickey glanced at her again. "Do you want to just…?"

"No thanks, you go ahead. I… I just want to talk to Natalie a sec."

"Alrighty then." He grinned and headed back towards the house. Before stepping in the house, he turned back and said, "Don't let Nanny fall, Nattie!" and winked. The Colossus shrieked in outrage, and Mickey shut the front door behind him.

"Hey, Natalie," the woman said to Bogeybrain.

"Who are you?" Natalie asked bluntly.

"I'm… a friend of Daddy's."

"Why are you here?"

"Well, you see, Daddy and I are real good friends and we thought it would be great if we… if I came and lived with you two. Well, as long as that's okay with you."

"So you're Daddy's girlfriend?"

"Well, if you put it like that–"

Natalie took off running over the front lawn. "Daddy's got a girlfriend! Daddy's got a girlfriend!" she chanted, making the stranger blush. Suddenly, she stopped. She gave the woman her most accusing look. The woman gulped a tiny bit.

"What's your name?" She visibly relaxed, smiling at Natalie.

"Elizabeth Marie Cronin. But you can call me Lizzie."

_Lizzie_. That was familiar. Now I was certain I knew this girl.

"Come on, Lizzie! I want to show you Fred!" She grabbed Lizzie's hand and dragged her over to the tree and began to climb.

"Ms CRONIN! I DEMAND you let me DOWN from this tree at ONCE!" screamed the Colossus as the pair passed by her. Her face had gone red from all the blood which had rushed to her head and a vein near her right temple was throbbing ferociously.

"I'll be up in a minute, Natalie," Lizzie smiled, rolling her eyes and causing Natalie to giggle. She slowly loosened the rope secured around the Colossus's ankle and let her ungracefully plop to the ground. The Colossus stood up, straightened her pink floral patterned cardigan and brushed the dry dirt off her bum. Natalie and I laughed, but were quick to stop when she turned to glare at us up in the tree.

Lizzie tapped the Colossus on the shoulder. "Have a nice day, Ms…"

"DON'T you DARE 'have a nice day' ME! You're NO BETTER than her FATHER!" With that, she turned on her heel and stormed down the road.

I turned to Natalie. "Shout something. Say a rude word, Bogeybrain!"

Natalie stood up on the bough and, leaning on my head for balance (we had been crouching on the branch), delivered her parting speech. "YOU STINK OF SH**!"

Lizzie gasped in mock horror. "NATALIE! DON'T you DARE say that word AGAIN!" She mocked the Colossus perfectly – impressive. I added that to my increasingly long list of things I liked about this woman.

"Sh**, sh**, sh**," she sang happily. Lizzie hoisted herself up into the tree.

"So, Natalie, tell me about Drop Dead Fred."

I took a breath. "You'd better not say anything bad about me, Bogeybrain," I whispered jokingly, but inside I was panicking. _Here goes nothing._


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Sorry this chapter took so long. Thank you so much to everyone who has taken the time to review or just read my story, and especially to those who have decided to follow or even favourite! Please review this chapter if you can – both positive and negative feedback is appreciated! :)**

Recap:

"So, Natalie, tell me about Drop Dead Fred."

I took a breath. "You'd better not say anything bad about me, Bogeybrain," I whispered jokingly, but inside I was panicking. _Here goes nothing._

Natalie looked upwards to the right as she thought of what to say. "Fred is my bestest friend in the whole wide world. He's really funny and makes me laugh and he's kind to me." _Phew,_ I thought, _she's doing okay with this first impressions thing._

"Is Fred being a good boy?"

"No! Fred is very naughty, and he gets me in trouble with the Cosol– the Conlos– the Colsus." _That's my girl!_

Lizzie smiled fondly with a distant look in her eyes, as if her thoughts were in the past. "Was that your first mission then?"

"What?"

"Putting her in the tree to upset her."

"No, silly! It was to make her go away! We were making her angry so she would go away forever."

Lizzie shifted herself slightly on the large branch. "You know, that reminds me of someone I used to know," she looked at Natalie almost sadly, then past her and over to me. I felt my face heat up.

Wait, I'm Drop Dead Fred! Why am I embarrassed just because some random woman is looking at me? _Pull yourself together, Fred,_ I scolded. Then I looked back at Lizzie, who had again started talking to Natalie.

"I once had a… a friend, too. A friend who would help me upset somebody I didn't like. We used to pull off the craziest pranks, play the weirdest games, and do the naughtiest things we could think of."

Natalie's eyes gleamed in anticipation. "What sort of things?"

"Don't go stealing my ideas, young lady. Well, Fre- my friend's ideas." Her right eye crinkled up into a playful wink.

Natalie linked her pinkie around Lizzie's. "I won't, I pinkie promise!"

"Well, one time Fr… my friend woke me up in the middle of the night and gave me my lovely white knitted sweater which he had drawn thick black horizontal lines on. He was wearing a burglar outfit, and we went downstairs together and put all my mother's silverware and china into a big plastic bin bag, then we broke out through the window and hid in a bush. My mother called the cops, and when she found out that my friend and I did it she was furious!"

Gleeful giggles came from Natalie, and she squealed in delight. She began saying something and clapping her hands together, but I couldn't hear anything.

It was like watching a silent movie: the characters were moving and acting as if everything was normal, but there was no sound. Then my chest constricted like someone was strangling my lungs. I couldn't breathe. Images flashed through my mind: flash, flash, flash. One after another. Over and over and over. I was no longer in a tree with Natalie and Lizzie. I was somewhere else; I was in another world, another life. I was in a sickly pink bedroom, giving a striped sweater to a dark-haired little girl. I was in a dark kitchen, searching for a torch. I was by a window watching the smashed glass tinkle on the windowsill like crystal raindrops, then splitting into even tinier pieces as they made contact and transformed to a glistening powder. I was hiding in a bush with the dark-haired girl, whispering into her tiny ear and looking into her big, frightened eyes on her small, rosy-cheeked face.

An ear that heard every word I said. An eye that looked at me instead of through me. And an oh-so-familiar face that I knew so well I was screaming at myself for not recognising it.

Elizabeth Marie Cronin.


	4. Chapter 4

Recap:

And an oh-so-familiar face that I knew so well I was screaming at myself for not recognising it.

Elizabeth Marie Cronin.

I couldn't believe it. I actually _knew _Lizzie. I remembered her. Something in me could see deep into her soul – so deep it was impossible not to recognise her, not to fight against every fibre of my being to realise the true identity of this woman. She was my Friend, my Natalie, from another life.

I was abruptly brought back into the real world by a five-year-old's incessant shaking of my shoulder, nearly shoving me out the tree and landing me in the yellow-green grass below us.

"FRED! WHAT'S WRONG?!" she cried, tears gathering in the corners of her big blue eyes.

Lizzie looked at me hesitantly. "Umm, Fred? Can you hear me?" She looked embarrassed talking to thin air (or so it would seem to anyone else), but I could see the genuine concern written all over her face.

I took a deep breath, shook my head violently to wake myself up and turned to the pair. "What do you mean, Bogeybrain? I'm fine as wine!" My attempt to cover up my shakiness failed miserably as my voice wavered mid-sentence. I cleared my throat. "Fancy going inside? It's too cold for little old me out here!"

Watching relief wash over Natalie's face, I jumped down from the tree and skipped over to the front door without awaiting my answer. "Well? Come on then, Bogeybrain."

She turned to face Lizzie. "Fred wants to go inside now," she explained.

Muscles shifted as her little legs bent down and she readied herself to jump, but tentative stares on her behalf told me she felt scared. "Hang on, I'm coming," I sighed. However, halfway there I realised someone had beaten me to it: I watched with a hint of jealousy as Elizabeth's delicate hands lowered Natalie down to the floor, far more gently than I could have managed, and finally she deposited herself in the middle of the lawn. The two paraded towards where I stood, and I opened the door with a low bow.

"After you, my lady," I teased Natalie as she passed; she rewarded me with a raspberry blown right in my face. Lizzie looked to where she guessed I would be standing and smiled, her deep lips stretching out over her stunning white teeth. "Welcome to the family, Elizabeth," I whispered. A few seconds later, she looked around, startled.

Was it possible she heard me?

_Don't be stupid, Fred_. _Of course she didn't._

But what if she did?

_She didn't. She couldn't have. It's impossible for a human to hear you unless they are your Friend. Stop with the stupid questions._

I pulled myself out of the trance I was in at the front door and galloped up the stairs after Natalie, not bothering to shut the door.

I found her sat cross-legged in the middle of her pinkified room, surrounded by lidless felt tips and multiple sheets of scribbled-on paper. Against the right, darkest pink wall of her bedroom was a white bed with bubblegum pink, fairy-smothered bedding, and up against the other three baby pink walls were: a pink doll's cot and a pram with a pink gingham seat, a pink miniature table and chairs complete with a white plastic tea set, a white doll's house with pink trailing flowers pouring out the window baskets, and a clear plastic rucksack with bursting seams which she had stuffed with Barbie dolls in various stages of undress. Needless to say, all of which (excluding the bed) were only used very rarely, and only when suffering severe boredom. Natalie and I, we preferred mud pies and booby traps.

"Finally!" she huffed dramatically, waving her hands in the air. "You took AGES!"

"Alright, alright, don't shoot me! I was plotting."

Her eyes sparkled as they did every time I mentioned plotting. "What are we doing now, Fred?"

"I'm still working on it. I'm not that fast at thinking!" I protested. "What have you got there?"

Natalie picked up a sheet of paper in front of her and showed me her drawing: a sad blob with brown messy hair dangling from a brown pole, and a big green and orange blob standing next to a happy little blue and yellow blob. "It's the Cons– the Colsus!" she grinned happily, pointing to the dangling blob. "And that's the tree she got stuck in, and that's me, and that's you, Fred. We're happy because we got the Colsus stuck in the tree."

I snatched the paper from her, screwed it up into a tight ball and shoved it in my mouth. "Delicious," I declared, my voice muffled from the wad of paper. I chewed and swallowed. Yuk.

I was half expecting her to start crying, but instead she leaned forwards laughing at me. I felt a dwindling emotion inside of me; I realised it was pride. She was already learning, even after just a few days of knowing me.

Mickey's heavy footfalls came wandering down the corridor. "Nattie, baby," he called out, "time to get ready for bed!" He slowly peeped through the cracked open door. "What have you been up to?"

Natalie looked over at the now partly open door. "I drew a picture for you!"

"Can I see it then?" he requested, wandering into the room and slowly sitting down on the unmade pink bed. He glanced down and gave his daughter a disapproving look, but didn't seem that bothered at heart.

"No."

Confusion crossed his face. "Why not?"

"Because Drop Dead Fred ate it!" she giggled.

"Drop Dead Fred ate your picture?"

"Yes!" Her giggles erupted into laughter yet again at my devouring of the paper.

"Hmmm… I'll be having words with him tonight, then," he warned jokingly. He got up and went over to kiss her forehead. "I expect you downstairs in pyjamas and ready for dinner in five minutes, okay? Elizabeth's cooking us something special tonight, to celebrate us becoming a family."

"Okay," Natalie smiled. For the first time in a long time, she seemed happy.


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N:**

**I know it's been ages, and I'm really sorry. I've just experienced three of the most hectic weeks of my life! Finally, it's here – Recognition Chapter 5. Just want to say thank you to you all for being patient, and I hope you enjoy!**

**Don't forget to review if you can – it'd be a real mood booster to get me through these last two busy weeks. More reviews mean more chapters, guys!**

Recap:

"Okay," Natalie smiled. For the first time in a long time, she seemed happy.

It was 5th September, two days after I suffered through the trauma of eating Natalie's picture. I was seated in the middle of the kitchen table, watching the tiny girl plough her way through a huge bowl of fruit loops and thinking of what lay ahead of the poor thing today: her first day of school. She had already managed to soak her first grey pinafore in juice, so was sat there in her second one of the day over the top of her little (but still far too big) polo shirt, and underneath her baggy red cardigan embroidered with the school logo. Her legs were drowned in the world's baggiest pair of grey woolly tights, and her feet in her brand new, shiny buckle-up shoes – which, of course, had already rubbed blisters on the back of her heels before she even left the house.

I sighed. Why did they have to grow up so fast? Call me soft, but I secretly couldn't wait until she came home. I wasn't quite sure of what to do with myself while she worked: obviously, I could go with her to school and teach her another lesson about troublemaking, but today was her day. Her day to impress, to show what she could do, and I wasn't about to spoil that for her. How mean do you think I am?

"Mick? Where did you put Natalie's rucksack? I can't find it anywhere, and her lunchbox still isn't inside it!" Lizzie yelled up the stairs.

Mickey came charging down the stairs, desperately tugging at his pale pink tie in an attempt to loosen it from his grey and white striped shirt. "Try the under stairs cupboard! Nattie, come on – you've been eating those for nearly fifteen minutes now. We're gonna be late!"

"But Daddy, I don't like these fruit loops! I only like the ones in the purple box with the pink ephelant. Why do I have to eat them?"

Lizzie came jogging in holding a purple sparkly rucksack, grabbing the pink lunch bag off the counter top and shoving it in. "You have to eat them," she explained, exasperated, "because you can't have snacks at school. You don't want to be hungry, do you?"

"But I don't like them! Pleease can I leave them? I already aten half of them!" She moaned, wriggling around on her chair in protest.

Mickey butted in to the conversation again. "Natalie. Shut up, finish those cereals now, grab your rucksack, get in the car and stop being a nuisance. We can't afford to be late today – I have an important meeting and you're going to school. End of story."

"BUT I DON'T WANT TO GO TO SCHOOL!" she exclaimed. She pushed her bowl over on the table letting the contents spill everywhere, and started jumping up and down and stomping. Tears of frustration poured down her face as she glared at her daddy, arms crossed stubbornly.

"FOR GOODNESS' SAKE, NATTIE! We don't have time for this! Now we've got to stay and clear up the mess, and you're making us late!"

"I DON'T CARE! I DON'T WANT TO GO TO SCHOOL!" she screamed. Turning, she sprinted up the stairs back into her bedroom and began wailing.

Mickey screamed in frustration. "I swear if she doesn't come down in the next five seconds, I'll–"

"It's okay, I'll clear up the mess. You go and get her and put her in the car. If you go through the centre of town and then head straight for work afterwards, you'll only be a few minutes late." Lizzie's sympathetic smile cooled his temper a little.

"Are you sure? I can call into work and explain…"

"No, don't worry about it. Just get the pair of you there and stop worrying about me. Have a nice day, I love you," Lizzie interrupted, giving Mickey a peck on the cheek and waving goodbye.

"Love you too, see you later," he replied and stomped upstairs, ready to drag his daughter (literally) kicking and screaming to school.

The door slammed behind the pair, leaving Lizzie alone with me and a bowl of spilled fruit loops. "Oh, joy," she sighed.


End file.
